Pinky Promises
by DearAshleyClaire
Summary: A collection of one shots centered around Caleb and Hanna's life with their five year old daughter, Hadley.
1. School Troubles

_Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!_

"Caleb, fix it!" Hanna groaned, hiding her head under the pillows.

Caleb reached for the alarm clock on the nightstand, struggling to find the snooze button.

"Got it." He mumbled as he turned the alarm off.

They lay quietly in their bed, peacefully drifting back to sleep. As they were finally getting back to sleep, their bedroom door creaked open, revealing a very small girl standing on the other side. She quietly walked to her parent's bed, dragging her Minnie Mouse blanket behind her.

"Mommy?" She asked quietly, her soft brown eyes staring intently at Hanna's sleeping form.

When Hanna didn't reply, the little girl lifted herself up onto the bed, grunting as she went along. She crawled over Hanna's sprawled limbs, and sat down beside Caleb.

"Daddy.." She said a little louder this time.

She patiently tapped his shoulder, bringing him out of his slumber.

"Hmm? Oh, good morning Hadley." He yawned, pulling his daughter down to lay next to him.

"Daddy, I can't go to school today. Tummy hurts." Hadley said in her best fake sick voice.

Caleb felt his daughter's forehead, feeling for a temperature. Hadley wasn't one to complain over small things such has her stomach hurting.

"Really? You don't feel like you have a temperature."

"It's true, dada. I simply cannot go." Hadley replied, throwing her arms up dramatically.

Their soft voices brought Hanna out of her peaceful sleep. She slowly opened her eyes to find Hadley cuddled up next to Caleb.

"Oh, crap! Come on Hadley we have to get you ready to go to school!" Hanna said rather loudly.

"Mommy said a bad word!"

"Did not!"

Caleb laughed at the mother/daughter duo. It was typical for Hadley to call Hanna out on saying swear words.

'Babe, she says her stomach hurts and she 'simply cannot go' to school." Caleb dramatically mocked his daughter's movements as he spoke.

Hadley simply nodded, displaying the best sick face she could possibly make.

"Well does she have a temperature?"

"No, I don't think so anyway."

"Well then she's fine. You know how she works." Hanna said, trying to let Caleb in on the fact that their daughter was faking.

"No, it's true!" Hadley whined, sticking her bottom lip out.

Caleb kissed Hadley's forehead in an effort to calm her down. Everyone knew that when Hadley's bottom lip stuck out, she was very close to crying.

"Go get ready with mommy so you can go to school, and if you get sick at school, I'll come get you. Alright?"

Hadley nodded, reaching her small arms out to Hanna. Hanna picked her up and kissed her forehead. After they made sure that they had Hadley's blanket, Hanna began to carry Hadley back to her room.

"Hadley, stop squirming and let me do your hair!" Hanna warned the wiggling little girl.

Hadley stuck her tongue out at her mother, looking at her through the mirror.

"Hey, watch it little girl!" Hanna laughed.

Hanna finished the headband braid that she was currently performing on her daughter's sandy blonde hair. She began to spray hairspray on Hadley's natural curls, but Hadley screamed and bolted out of the room.

"Hadley, get back here!"

"I can't, no I'm not doing that, I'm sorry!" Hadley squealed as she stood in place on the couch.

Hanna laughed, placing the hairspray back on the shelf.

"Are you ready to go to school now?"

Hadley quickly wiped the smile from her face and her whole body tensed up. She had been going to kindergarten for three days now, but she hated it.

"No, I need to say bye to daddy." She said quietly, jumping down from the couch and running to her parent's bedroom.

"Daddy, you gotta help me!" She cried, running to Caleb's side.

Caleb sat up in bed, turning to meet Hadley's gaze.

"What is it?"

"I can't go daddy, I just can't. I hate kindergarten and I hate teachers and I really hate stinky Seth Holder!" She screamed, crossing her arms over her chest.

Caleb suppressed a laugh at her last comment; she was always talking about how much she couldn't stand that poor kid.

"I'm sorry baby, but you have to go to school. I had to go, mommy had to go, and now it's your turn. You'll be alright."

"You don't get it!" She scoffed, climbing onto the bed.

"Well, explain it to me."

"I hate it!" She screamed like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But _why_ do you hate it?"

"A'cause."

Hadley looked down at her hands, picking at her little fingernails.

Caleb pulled Hadley onto his lap, rubbing small circles on her back.

"Will you tell me why?" He whispered.

"They don't like me, daddy. No one ever talks to me."

Caleb sighed heavily; he didn't think that a kid with such a strong personality would ever think so harshly about herself.

"They just don't know you, baby. Go in today and try talking to them. I'm sure they will all love you by the end of the day."

Hadley shook her head, grabbing onto her father's hand and tracing her small fingers over his wedding ring.

"I can't. I just want to stay home with you and mommy forever."

"Come on Hadley, you don't want to be late." Hanna said as she walked in.

As soon as she looked up to see Caleb holding Hadley, she knew something was wrong.

"What's wrong, baby?" She asked, setting Hadley's Minnie Mouse backpack next to the bedroom door.

"I don't want to go! They don't like me!" Hadley screamed in response, her hands immediately flying up to cover her face.

Hanna sat down next to them on the bed, lovingly stroking Hadley's hair.

"They do too, they're just afraid to talk to you. Just like you're afraid to talk to them."

Hadley sniffled, her hands still covering her face. Caleb gently pulled her hands away, finding tears streaming down her face.

"Hey, it's alright. Sometimes it takes time to make friends. I bet they're all just as scared as you are." He said soothingly, running the pad of his thumb over her tears.

Hadley shrugged in response, leaning into her father's embrace. She reached out and held onto Hanna's hand, tracing her fingers around the outline of her hand.

"Just give it one more shot, Hadley. I know they'll love you."

Hadley brought her gaze from the floor, looking up at her mother's eyes.

"You go with me." Hadley stated; a small hint of fear hiding in her voice.

"I'll go with you, and I'll stay until you make a friend. But only if you promise to try talking to them."

Hadley half smiled, nodding her head.

"Promise."

Hadley held out her small pinky, waiting for Hanna to interlock her pinky with it.

Once the pinky promise was fulfilled, Hadley turned around to face her father. She kissed his cheek and hugged his neck, holding on as tight as she could.

"I love you, daddy. I see you after kindergarten."

"I love you too, Hadley. I know you'll do great." Caleb smiled, hugging her back.

Hadley pulled away, turning to take her mother's hand.

"Okay, we can go now." She said shakily.

Hanna nodded, helping the small girl get down from the bed.

* * *

**Thank you for reading! I don't plan on adding anymore to this, but if enough people want me to, I will consider it.**

**-Cassidy  
**


	2. The No Boyfriend Rule

**Thank you so much for reviewing! So I said I wasn't going to write more, but I really enjoyed writing the last one. I guess this will now be a collection of one shots. I hope you all like this one! It's kind of a continuation of the last one. And yes, Hasty Hastings, I did get that line from the infamous Makenzie! :)**

The small Rivers family was seated around the kitchen table, eating slices of pizza from the local take-out pizza place.

"I love pizza!" Hadley squealed, her mouth full of cheese pizza.

"Slow down, kid." Caleb laughed.

Hadley smiled shyly, setting the slice of pizza back down on her plate.

"Hadley, what tell daddy about your new friends from kindergarten."

The blonde headed child quickly sat up straight, beaming at her father.

"I have a best friend, her name is Aspen! She's real pretty too, dada. We're gonna be best friends until we get old! Then I met a boy, who isn't stinky like Seth, and he's real nice. His name is Asher. And I know Emmi, Aleyna, Charlie, Jace, and Eliot too!" Hadley proclaimed proudly.

"That's great, Hadley! I told you you'd be fine."

"Yeah, but what else do you want to tell daddy about Asher?" Hanna questioned the small girl.

"Nothing!" Hadley mumbled, quickly taking another bite of pizza.

Hanna made a face at Hadley, telling her to tell Caleb. Hadley rolled her eyes at Hanna, shaking her head.

"Well if you don't tell him, then I'm going to."

"No, mommy!" Hadley yelled in her warning tone.

"Come on, tell him! Please?" Hanna begged, smiling at her daughter.

"Fine!" Hadley scoffed.

She turned to face Caleb, crossing her arms across her chest. She was obviously frustrated; she had no intentions of telling her father about her situation with the non-stinky boy from school.

"Asher is my boyfriend." She mumbled quickly.

Caleb choked on his pizza, taken back by what his daughter had just told him. Hanna burst into a fit of laughter as he composed himself.

"Your boyfriend?" He questioned Hadley.

"Mhm." She nodded in response.

"No, you're not allowed to have a boyfriend until you're eighty years old."

"Too bad, so sad!"

Hanna continued to laugh at the situation; she knew Caleb would react like this. He had always been very protective over his little girl, refusing to think that she would ever have a boyfriend.

"Hanna, stop laughing and help me out! Tell her she's not allowed to have a boyfriend!"

"I had at least ten boyfriends when I was in kindergarten, its harmless Caleb. All they do is color pictures of hippos for each other and swap peanut butter and jelly sandwiches at lunch."

"Nu uh! Asher kissed me." Hadley corrected her mother.

Caleb's eyes grew wide as he turned to Hanna.

"Harmless, huh?"

This sent Hanna into another fit of laughter. She quickly stopped when she saw the way Caleb was eyeing her down.

"Hadley I want you to go to school tomorrow and tell Asher that your daddy is the only boy that's allowed to kiss you! And while you're at it, tell him that you're never allowed to have a boyfriend… Ever."

"That's not fair, daddy! Mommy had ten boyfriends!"

"Yeah, well, they never kissed her."

"Maybe they did.." Hanna replied quietly.

"Not helping!" Hadley said as she sat with her arms crossed, staring her mother down from across the table.

"Hanna, tell her there are no boyfriends! We have a strict no boyfriend rule!"

"Since when?"  
"Since I declared that there was a strict no boyfriend rule."

Hanna rolled her eyes as Hadley laughed.

"I'm serious, Hadley. No boyfriends."

"Whatever you say, mister!" Hadley said sarcastically as she carried her now empty plate to the kitchen sink.

"I'm serious, Hadley!"

"I'm sure you are!" She called out as she walked up the stairs.

Hanna smiled at Caleb as he looked at her, his face displaying a slight look of frustration.

"Hey, guess what! I love Asher!" Hadley screamed from the doorway to her room.

She quickly shut her door as she fell to the floor in a fit of laughter; she found it hilarious to torment Caleb with her newfound boyfriend.

"What are you going to do, ground her? I'm sure this will end when she refuses to share her finger paint with the boy." Hanna laughed.

"No, I'm going to lock her in a closet until she's at least forty years old."

"I'm sure you will."

"You know, she gets those smart remarks from you. It's like you coach her on this stuff."

"Right.." Hanna laughed as she walked out of the kitchen.


	3. Rainy Days

It was a late night in the Rivers household, Hadley had been asleep for exactly three hours now, and her parents were beginning to fall asleep.

That is, until a storm started.

Thunder boomed over head, bringing Hadley out of her deep sleep. She sat up in bed, holding her Minnie Mouse blanket around her shoulders and watching the lightening flash through the window.

"I will not be scared, I will not be scared.." She chanted quietly to herself.

_BOOM_

"I'm scared!" Hadley squeaked as the thunder crashed.

She quickly jumped from her place on the bed, running full speed to her parent's bedroom.

"Daddy, save me!" She screamed, jumping onto the bed.

"Just as I was falling asleep.." Caleb mumbled.

He sat up and pulled Hadley onto his lap. She hugged his neck and buried her face in her arms, her blanket still in tow.

"What's going on?" Hanna yawned.

As soon as Hanna sat up, lightening flashed, lighting up the room. It didn't take long for the thunder to crash, sending Hadley into a fit of screams.

"That!" Hadley squealed.

Caleb laughed softly, rubbing small circles on his daughter's back. He liked that Hadley was still so young that she was scared by small things like this.

"It's just a storm, Hadley. Nothing's going to happen."

"Yeah huh! Luke told me that his grandpa said that he saw lightening hit a tree once! And it caught on fire!"

"Well, that does happen.."

"Not helping, Caleb!" Hanna shot back.

"We should move." Hadley deadpanned, giving her mother a very serious look.

Hanna and Caleb both erupted into a fit of laughter, but Hadley didn't get what was so funny. In fact, she was a little mad that they weren't taking her seriously.

She stood up between her parents, crossing her arms as she watched her parents laugh hysterically.

"Stop it!" She screamed, stomping her foot next to Caleb's head.

"Alright, alright!" Caleb said shakily, trying to hold back his laughter.

"It wasn't even funny." The tiny girl said, a look of anger displayed on her angelic face.

She let herself fall back onto the bed, her curly blonde hair fanning out underneath her head. Hanna slung an arm around Hadley, pulling the small girl closer to herself.

"I'm sorry pretty girl, we didn't mean to make you mad." She smiled at her five year old daughter.

"Well, you did! But its okay mommy, I decided to forgive you."

Thunder clapped and Hadley squealed, hugging Hanna even tighter. The lights flickered a few times, and finally went out all together.

"Mommy!" Hadley pulled herself closer to Hanna, her already iron grip growing even tighter.

"It's alright, Boo." Hanna said softly as she ran her fingers through Hadley's hair.

Hadley smiled. Boo was Hanna's nickname for Hadley, it started when Hadley fell in love with Monsters Inc when she was two years old. It was Hadley's favorite nickname, she loved when her parents called her Boo.

"I'm sleeping in here with you and daddy."

Caleb pulled both Hadley and Hanna closer to himself and laid an arm across Hanna's waist. He leaned down and kissed his daughters head as she fell back to sleep, wrapped in her parents arms.

Caleb woke up the next morning with one of Hadley's feet on his face and the other buried beneath his back. He carefully lifted himself to look at the way his daughter was laying – Hadley's head was on Hanna's stomach and she had her Minnie Mouse blanket lying across half of her face. He smiled; leave it to Hadley to turn sideways in her sleep.

He lay back down and sighed, it had been a sleepless night because of Hadley. She woke up off and on, sometimes crawling to him and asking to be held, and sometimes crawling to Hanna. The storm lasted nearly half of the night and Hadley was terrified of the thunder.

Hadley started to squirm as her eyes fluttered open. She sat up and looked at Caleb, her curly hair tangled wildly around her head.

"Good morning, pretty girl." Caleb smiled.

Hadley yawned in response as she crawled into Caleb's arms. She wasn't much of a talker in the mornings, and he was just fine with that. She lay down next to him, resting her head on his chest.

"Did you sleep well?"

He got a simple nod in response.

"I want pancakes." She said quietly.

"Pancakes we shall make." Caleb nodded as he ruffled Hadley's hair lovingly.

Hadley sat up and looked at him, a look of confusion displayed on her face.

"You talk funny sometimes, daddy. Let's just go."

She slid carefully over the edge of the bed and grabbed Caleb's hand, dragging him out of bed and downstairs to the kitchen.

"Pancakes." She demanded as she sat at the table.

Caleb shook his head and walked to the stove, noticing that the clock wasn't showing the time as it usually would.

"Uh, Hadley, I don't think we'll be making pancakes."

"Yes, daddy! Now!" She crossed her arms across her chest as she spoke.

"Nope, the powers out, Boo."

Hadley didn't say anything, she simply put her head down on the table and groaned. Caleb laughed silently while Hadley continued to keep her head on the table; she was clearly distressed over the situation at hand.

"You know what we could do for breakfast?"

"Not make pancakes."

"Well yes," Caleb laughed, "but we can go to McDonald's."

Hadley immediately shot up out of her seat, jumping to her father's side and smiling brightly at him.

"You're the best daddy ever!"

"Go get mommy, crazy girl."

Hadley quickly spun around on her heels, racing out of the kitchen and back upstairs to her parent's bedroom.

It was four o'clock in the afternoon now, and Hadley sat at her Minnie Mouse table in the living room coloring pictures in her princess coloring book. Hanna sat across from Hadley, in a too small chair that was meant for children. Caleb had left for work right after they got back from McDonald's, leaving Hanna and Hadley to find their own ways to entertain themselves.

"Hads, do you have the purple crayon?"

Hadley nodded; she was too focused on her picture to speak to Hanna. Her eyebrows furrowed together as she colored Rapunzel's dress, she was a tiny perfectionist when it came to coloring pictures.

"Can I use it?"

A simple shake of the head was all Hanna got out of the five year old girl, not that she expected anything else from her. She knew how Hadley was when it came to coloring pictures.

"Fine," Hanna sighed, "I'll make Ariel's shells blue."

"Done!" Hadley squealed as she held the coloring book up in the air.

She smiled her signature Hadley smile as she admired her work.

"Mommy, can we see Grammy today? I want to give her this picture."

"Maybe not today, Grammy is working. But next time we see her, we will give her this gorgeous picture, okay?"

Hadley sighed, she hated that Hanna's mom, Ashley, worked so much. She loved spending the day with her, but was often disappointed to find that she couldn't visit her Grammy whenever she wanted to.

"I'm sorry baby, we'll try to visit her tomorrow."

Hadley nodded, staring sadly at the floor.

"Hey, you know what would be fun?"

Hadley looked up, her eyes showing a small hint of excitement.

"What?"

"If we played the lava game."

"Lava game? Mommy, you're crazy."

"No, it's fun!" Hanna smiled, trying to get her daughter into it.

"What is it?"

"You can't walk on the floor, because it's lava."

Hadley shook her head, clearly confused by what her mother was saying.

"So I have to stay sitting here? That's no fun at all mommy."

"No, Boo, you have to jump on things! Like pillows and stuff. Come on, I promise it's fun!"

"Fine. But it doesn't sound very fun."

Hanna laughed and stood up, grabbing a few pillows from the couch. She threw them down to form a little path, but they were spread apart so they would have to jump from pillow to pillow. Hadley thought it was fun to throw pillows down because it was "making a mess", so she ran to her bedroom and brought all of her pillows to put down too.

"Hurry Hadley, jump on a pillow! You're going to melt in the lava!"

Hadley shrieked as she jumped onto on of the pillows, slightly losing her balance and rocking back and forth on her heels. Hanna laughed as she stood on a pillow across from her.

"You got it?"

"Yes!" Hadley giggled.

The two of them went back and forth for what seemed like hours, jumping from pillows, to the couch, and back to the pillows, giggling the whole time. Hadley had fallen from the pillows quite a few times, giggling and faking her lava-death in the most dramatic way she could.

The front door creaked open as Caleb stepped inside, surprised to find Hanna and Hadley jumping wildly from pillow to pillow.

"Daddy!" Hadley cried as a smile spread across her beautiful face.

"Hadley!" Caleb replied as he spread his arms, expecting her to come running to him like she usually would.

Hadley thought about it, and almost let her foot him the floor, but quickly pulled it back.

"Sorry daddy, I can't run and hug you. The floor is lava, I have to stay on the pillow."

Caleb smirked, looking towards Hanna, who was standing on a pillow beside Hadley.

"When did our house turn into a volcano?"

"When we didn't have electricity to watch tv."

Caleb walked towards the two girls, but quickly stopped when Hadley screamed.

"Daddy, stop! You'll melt!"

"No I won't, didn't you know that daddies are immune to lava?"

Hadley wrinkled her nose in confusion, staring at Caleb.

"It means lava doesn't hurt me, Boo."

"Well then, save us!" Hadley yelled, her arms stretched out.

Caleb picked Hadley up and kissed her forehead, then he looked at Hanna.

"Well, come on." He smirked.

"Caleb don't you dare pick me up!"

"Oh come on, I can't let you melt in the lava."

"Come on mommy!" Hadley screeched.

"No, mommy will take the pillow path. Really, Caleb, don't."

"Oh, but I have to."

And with that, Caleb reached out with his free hand and pulled Hanna up over his shoulder, causing Hanna to scream to Hadley to burst into a fit of laughter.

"Caleb Alexander Rivers, put me down right now!"

"No can do, Hanna Lydia Rivers."

"Hadley Sage Rivers!" Hadley said proudly as Caleb sat his family down safely on the couch.

"What?" Hanna laughed.

"Everyone was saying middle names, so I said mine!" Hadley smiled at her parents, giggling softly.

"Well, I love you, Hadley Sage Rivers." Hanna smiled as she pulled Hadley onto her lap, wrapping her arms around the tiny girl lovingly.

"I love you mommy, and I love you daddy!"

"No, don't talk to daddy right now. He picked mommy up when she said no." Hanna whispered to Hadley.

The two girls were sitting opposite of Caleb on the small couch, Hadley sitting in Hanna's lap and cuddling into her embrace.

"I heard that, and I was just trying to save my lovely wife from a firey lava death."

"But your lovely wife could have escaped the lava on her own."

"I wanted to feel manly and save her myself, plus our daughter was practically begging me to save you. And we all know that I can't say no to miss Hadley."

Hadley smiled and nodded, her curly pigtails bobbing up and down with her every movement.

"It's true, he's wrapped around my finger!" Hadley smiled proudly as she held up her small finger.

Hanna laughed and hugged Hadley a little tighter. It didn't take long for Caleb to reach out and take Hadley from Hanna's grip, placing her on his lap and hugging her tight.

"That you do, my little love."

The three of them sat cuddled up together for the rest of the night, talking and laughing and just enjoying each others company. Hadley always had the funniest stories to tell, although they had no idea where she got her sense of humor from. She could tell the funniest jokes for just being five years old. Caleb and Hanna listened to her ever word, loving every second of what she said. They enjoyed just listening to her because of the way she would stumble on her words and mispronounce words every now and then; it reminded them that she was still a little girl. _Their _little girl. And they loved her endlessly.

**How's that for a sappy ending? Hah, I hope you all like it. I thought about splitting this into two different chapters, but I figured I'd leave them as one and let you all have a semi-long chapter to read. I thought it would be cute to include the lava game, because in the books Hanna's dad talks about how Hanna loved to play that game when she was little. Plus, who didn't play that game?! Thanks again to everyone that has reviewed, I really appreciate you all!**

**- Cassidy**


End file.
